A Work in Progress
by risingfallback
Summary: Anika - Anri needs to talk to Erika, but as usual when talking to an otaku, she has to deal with some frustration before she can get her point across.


This is connected to Exclamation! in that all the dialogue from that dialogue-only oneshot is used here. I am going to make Anika a more popular pairing, I swear.

I do not own Durarara!

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><p>Anri wrapped her coat closer to her. Her breath spread out in front of her, a ghost cloud. She smiled, pursing her lips and blowing out more. Ryuugamine-kun had been doing the same yesterday as Kida-kun teased him, dragging him down to the hard pavement and giving him a noogie. She'd watched as they wrestled around, laughing as they stood up with dirtied jackets and wind-whipped cheeks. They resembled naughty little children as they ran in front of her, hurling insults at one another. She'd sat back and enjoyed, until they'd each taken hold of one of her hands and dragged her with them. She could still feel the pull of a smile.<p>

She paused for a moment at the entrance to the park. A black cap was moving towards her, a solitary figure in motion against the otherwise stagnant scene. She raised up on the balls of her feet to see better, then let her weight pull her back down. The figure, clothed in a long dress with a skin-tight jacket over it, waved and raced towards her. She waved back, giving a slight smile as she walked to meet them halfway. This was working out well! She could do her job and go home and heat up a cup of a tea and get her homework done. Maybe even go to bed early. She moved a bit faster.

"Karisawa-san-" she started.

"-Erika-tan!"

Anri stopped short, her bag swinging in her hand. She tilted her head to the side, her bangs hiding Karisawa-san's face for a brief second, before she brushed them out of her way. The woman's face was flushed red, from the cold or what, Anri couldn't figure out. She wasn't wearing a scarf, at the very least.

"Um, what?" Had she heard right? It had sounded like she had said -

"Call me Erika-tan! Doesn't that sound cute?" Karisawa-san spun, her elbows knocking together as she pillowed her face in her hands. If she weren't used to it already, Anri would have been baffled by the sudden explosion of hearts that engulfed the otaku. Now, she simply contained her giggles, biting her lip to keep from making noise. If she heard her, she had a feeling _she_ would be swallowed up by hearts too. "Much better than Karisawa-san. That's too formal, Anri."

She had long since figured out that formalities were lost on Karisawa-san. Even so, the familiar tone with which she said her name made her pause and shift, one leg hooking behind the other. Even Ryuugamine-kun and Kida-kun used honorifics! Her fingers tightened around the handle of her bag, the leather creaking and making her wiggle in discomfort. And asking her to use such a name...how old was Karisawa-san anyways? She acted like a teenager! Not that Walker was any better, but at least he hadn't asked her to call him Walker-tan...yet. She could just imagine him prancing up to her, eyes shut as always and -

"Oh. Uh then, Erika-tan-"

"Eek!" Anri faltered. "It sounds even cuter when you say it like that," she added, stepping forward. She had a wicked smile on her face, as she leaned in - too close, too close! - to Anri's face. The tickle of her breath warmed Anri's chilled face, but Anri wanted her to move back, move back, move back! The smile didn't help her sudden flare of nerves either. Especially when she thought of the things Karisawa-san would voice when she smiled like that - on more than one occasion, Anri had been forced to cleanse her mind of everything the woman had shouted. "Say it again, say it again!"

She really _was_ like a teenager. Anri nuzzled her face into her scarf, the soft wool replacing Karisawa-san's breath. She wiggled her fingers, trying to regain feeling in them. Finally, she sighed and said, "Erika-tan?"

Karisawa-san drew closer. She felt a surge of warmth as Karisawa-san towered over her. The otaku wasn't much taller than her, but Anri always felt dwarfed by her. And Mika. And Celty. She couldn't help it. "Again, again!"

She turned her face to the side. She didn't need anyone to see the sudden glint in her eye, or the abrupt flare of color that had nothing to do with the wind whipping through the few leaves left on the otherwise bare trees. "Erika-tan?"

Even with her eyes averted, Anri knew Karisawa-san's eyes were alight with stars. "So moe! Wait, wait, I need my video recorder. I know I brought it with me..." Anri heard the rustle of fabric, and turned back. She blanched. "Oh, there it is. Okay, now say 'Erika-tan' again."

"Do you always keep that there...?"

"Of course! You never know when Shizu-Shizu or Iza-Iza may start flirting! You always need to be prepared."

Anri tried to clear her mind of the sudden image of the blonde beast of Ikebukuro and the flea informant starring in a lovey-dovey video. It was almost as bad as knowing just where Karisawa-san kept her...otaku devices. "Oh..."

Karisawa-san stuck her tongue out as she flipped open the video camera. A red light at the end pointed towards Anri awoke. It pinged as it booted up, the red light morphing to green. Karisawa-san slipped her fingers through the hand grip, and gave her a a thumbs-up, a poster perfect example of a dedicated otaku. "Okay, now say it."

How did she always end up in messes like this? She licked her lips. "Erika-tan..."

Erika did a little dance in place. "Eeek! This is going straight on youtube!"

"W-what?"

"It will be an instant hit! The newest meme!"

"I-I don't think I want that to happen, Karisawa-s-"

"-Erika-tan-"

"-I'd rather you didn't do that at all." A bit of an understatement. Kida-kun had linked her to a video - now that she remembered it, she really wish she didn't - of a man dressed as a banana and singing some inane song that had been stuck in her head for days. She'd scrolled down to the comments, rather than watch the entire disastrous thing.

She really didn't want to be on youtube.

Karisawa-san fluttered her hands at her, the video camera swaying this way and that, until the flap finally closed. "But think about all the possibilities, Anri! You could have a fanclub, dedicated fangirls and fanboys who would listen to anything you would say. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that exciting? Think of all the fanart and fanfiction there would be!"

If it weren't for the cold, Anri would bet she would have paled. As it were, she applauded herself for not simply turning around and running away, like her shaking feet wanted her to. "That's what I'd rather avoid..."

"But whyyyyy?"

"I'd rather live a peaceful life," she asserted. With Saika, that was next to impossible, but she could hope, couldn't she? She was still a normal person. Capable of most emotions...she blinked.

"Oh pooey! Peaceful is boring. You need to live a loud, colorful life! Miku-puu knows what I'm talking about."

"Ryuugamine-kun has his reasons though. I'm not him."

"Oh, of course not, silly!" Anri turned away as Karisawa-san tucked her video camera away. "Miku-puu is a moe-moe little uke who needs a seme to bring adventure into his life! You're more of a switch, I think, who needs someone to bring out your more erotic, dangerous side. Mhm, that sounds about right. An ero-ero megane with a passionate side that no one gets to see! It practically writes itself!"

I don't think I want to know what those words mean... Anri gulped as the full implications of what the otaku said settled in. "You're...you're not going to write that are you?" She didn't need her name associated with Karisawa-san's fantasies.

"Me? Of course not!"

"Goo-"

"Yumacchi will!"

"...Walker-san?" Her stomach felt like it dropped down fifty flights of stairs.

"Yup! I can't write myself IC, so he does it for me!"

"IC?"

"'In character,' of course."

"Oh..." She tried for a smile, but shuddered instead. She pulled her fingers into her sleeves.

Karisawa-san nodded sagely. "But anyways! What did you want?"

Anri perked up. Finally, a break! She routed around in her bag, drawing out a manilla envelope, marked with Karisawa-san's initials in scrawled out marker. "Kida-kun wanted me to give this to you."

Karisawa-san tilted her head to the side as she accepted it, her fingers brushing against Anri's. Anri pulled them back into her sleeves. They were still tingling with the cold. "Hm, what could it be? Manga?" She jiggled it, holding it up to the fading sunlight. "No, too light. Printed fanfiction? But he could have just e-mailed it to me." She stuck her tongue out again, and, using the side of her thumbnail, punctured the envelope. She pulled out what looked like a couple of sheets of paper. "Hm...what is this?" Her eyes widened. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"W-What is it?" Anri asked, her voice muffled. She made a mental note to stop and buy some earmuffs...and earplugs.

The older woman twirled with one of the papers still in hand. "A picture of you in gym class! This is just what I needed!"

Did - did she hear that right? "Of me? In gym class?" She felt her stomach drop again, but she stretched out her hand. "Can I see?"

"Of course!" Karisawa-san pushed the paper over, and Anri accepted, her own eyes widening. "Look, there's you running. Your uniform's coming up!"

"So it is..." She mentally cringed. She hadn't complained about the uniform before, but the way the shorts snaked up her thigh...and the way it dipped down low in the front...maybe she should have opted to wear a smaller size. Or a different uniform altogether.

"You're so fast. You should join the track team!"

Anri ripped her attention from the picture and stared straight into the other woman's eyes. They were actually kind of dark, now that she noticed them. They matched her hair perfectly. "Um, Karisawa-san?"

"Erika-tan!"

"_Why_ did you need a picture of me in gym?"

She felt goosebumps erupt along her arm at the sudden smirk that overtook Karisawa-san's face. The last time she'd seen that smirk, Orihara-san had nearly strangled her, and Heiwajima-san had actually gotten his hands around her neck before Kadota-san had intervented. "I have a lot of pictures of you, Anri," she said slowly, her voice lighter, more teasingly quieter than normal. "I have ones of you in your Raira uniform, and in dresses, you with with your friends! I have an entire collection."

What? Anri shook her head, shoving the picture back into Karisawa-san's hands. "That's kind of creepy..." she said to herself.

"What was that?"

"Why do you have so many?"

"Why do you _think_ I have so many, Anri?"

On instinct, Anri stepped back, but Karisawa-san matched her step for step. She stuttered. "I don't know, that's why I asked - why are you getting so close?"

Karisawa-san grabbed an end of Anri's scarf and pulled. Anri launched forward. "Pucker up!"

Anri panicked. Why where her lips wet? Why was there pressure on them? Was - was that a tongue? She pushed out blindly. What was going on? Her scarf was yanked upward, and she tried to push harder, but she was on tip-toe, and the squishyness under her hand wasn't helping anything. Her eyes rolled up, catching Karisawa-san's. She winked.

"Mhmph!" Finally, her push succeeded, and Karisawa-san fell to the side. She caught herself before she landed on the ground.

Anri rubbed at her lips, feeling her face flame. What had just happened? Surely - surely Karisawa-san hadn't kissed her? Right? She curled her fingers into fists at her side. She was too old for her! She was a woman! She collected pictures of her and invaded her space and wrote fanfiction about her.

And she had kissed her.

"You taste good," Karisawa-san abruptly said. She licked at her lips, dragging her tongue around them.

"T-thank you?" Anri stuttered out. What was she supposed to do? She didn't know what was appropriate to do in times like this!

"No problem." Karisawa-san gave her another thumbs-up. "Just keep tasting like that and all will be good!"

"I guess I can do that," Anri replied. What did she even taste like anyways...? She'd had melon bread for lunch...

"Good! Now come here, I want to show you the best pictures of you, like the one where you're all wet, or the one where Miku-puu accidentally flipped your skirt and the one where - "

She had a sudden idea.

"-Erika-tan?"

The woman paused for a second. Then, in true otaku fashion, screeched. "Eeeeeh, so cute! What?"

She closed her eyes. "If - if I keep uh 'tasting like that' - will you get rid of those pictures?"

She peeked through her lashes. Karisawa-san had propped her hand on her hip, her hand rubbing at her chin. "Hm, that is a lot to ask, Anri! Let me think...oh, yes! Since I would be losing, more than gaining, I have one condition!"

This was going better than she had thought. "What is it?"

"You have to be my girlfriend of course! My ero-ero megane adorable little virgin girlfriend."

"You - you want that?"

"Of course! Why did you think I had all those pictures! They're not exactly for public view, Anri, they're special, all mine!"

"I don't know. I didn't want to assume, or anything."

"So? What do you say?"

"..." What could she say? Words were failing her. It had never crossed her mind that anyone - least of all Karisawa-san - was interested in her in _that_ way, barring certain creepy individuals. She reached up to brush against her lips. They were tingling at the memory of having another pair pressed against them. Once she caught the look she was getting, she burrowed her face into her scarf.

"Ah, look at the blush! So cute! I could just pinch it!" Karisawa-san started towards her.

"Ah, don't do that!"

"You don't want me to touch you?" She pouted. "I see how it is..."

Just like a teenager... "Um...Karisawa-san?"

"It's Erika-tan!"

"Right." She nodded. "Erika-tan?"

"Yes?"

She steeled herself. "My answer - it's yes."

"...really?"

What was she getting into? She had Saika, she was a teenager, Ikebukuro wasn't a happy place to foster a real relationship, the other person was an old woman- "Yes."

"Woooah!"

But for whatever reason, she just couldn't say no.

She let Karisawa-san - her new girlfriend? - envelope her into a hug. She allowed herself the luxury of resting her cheek against a shoulder. It was different than the hugs she shared with Kida-kun and Ryuugamine-kun.

Eep! She looked back at the hands gripping her butt, and pushed at the older woman's chest. "Don't do that Karisawa-san! We're in public!"

She eeped more as the hand wandered further up, to the hem of her skirt. "Ah, you're blushing! How cute! It will be so much fun taking your virginity!"

"..."

"Come on, let's go look at those photos. Kida-kun was very helpful, he even set up the whole thing."

"Kida-kun? But why?"

"Who knows...he just told me not to take any more pictures of him and little Miku-puu."

"..."

She'd had a feeling about that...

"Anyways, let's go!" Karisawa-san finally let go of her butt - much to Anri's relief - and instead hooked arms with her. She started marching away, dragging Anri in her wake. For whatever reason, Anri smiled.

"Alright...," she turned her face upwards, "...Erika-tan."

"Still so cute!"

This time, Anri didn't mind the kiss. She pressed against Kari...Erika, and smiled.

Until she felt hands at her breasts.

She hung her head. This was going to be a work in progress.


End file.
